Country Girl
by Colleentj
Summary: Pre-MRMR. When a gorgeous, red-haired ranch girl turns up in Telma's bar, Link and Shad are tripping over their own feet to win her affections. (Xmas gift!fic for TriforceLink205)


**Greetings friends, and a very Merry Christmas/Happy holidays to all of you! This short fic is sort of a Merry Christmas/Thank you for the support gift for a friend of mine, ~TriforceLink205, who has been incredibly supportive of my writing and who is probably the nicest person in the universe.**

**I happen to know that TL205 is a big fan of both the MaLink ship and _My__ Roof, My Rules._Consider this fic as taking place in the MRMR universe, occurring before the events of the fic when all of the characters were still giddy goofballs and before they (non-coincidentally) completely lost their ability to mind their own business.**

**Enjoy!**

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She was beautiful- absolutely, irrevocably, impossibly beautiful, with shimmering blue eyes and thick red hair and an airy, country voice that was remarkably melodic. Her motions were graceful, her posture well-maintained, and she laughed and teased and batted her eyelashes all with perfect timing.

"Isn't she _hateful?_"

"Well, Ashei, aren't _you _a ray of sunshine this morning?" teased Shad, having found Ashei on one end of Telma's bar. She was eyeing the red-haired girl scornfully, biting her lip and, Shad figured, probably plotting murder.

"Who is she?" Shad continued, glancing at the girl again. She was currently deep in conversation with Telma, who seemed to adore the girl beyond belief. There was a crate next to the girl filled with glass bottles, all of them filled with what looked like milk. A delivery?

"I don't know, but I hate her," Ashei concluded, and collapsed into a wooden chair, propping her feet up on the table.

Shad shrugged. "Your choice. I think she's pretty."

"You think _everyone's _pretty, Shad. You thought that other country girl was pretty, too," Ashei scoffed. Shad stared blankly for a few moments, and then his eyes lit up.

"You mean Ilia of Ordon Village?" he questioned, and blinked. A rather dopey smile crossed his face as he recalled Link's young friend. "Ah. Yes- yes, you're quite right, Ashei, I _did _think Ilia quite pretty." And with this, he crossed his arms. "Regardless-"

"Regardless, nothing. Can it, Shad, really."

"But-"

"Don't start monologuing-"

"-How did you know-"

"-I always know-"

The sound of footsteps stomping down the stairs called them out of their conversation, and Link appeared in the room, appearing rather jubilant.

"Morning, Shad, Morning, Ashei- _wooooooaaaaah_," he said suddenly, his jaw dropping as he observed the red-haired girl standing on the other side of the bar.

"_Wooaah?"_ Ashei mocked.

"_Wooaaah_," Link confirmed, and leaned against the doorframe, a smirk appearing on his face. "Now isn't _she _a sight for sore eyes, huh, Shad?"

"_Ugh_," Ashei grumbled. "You boys and your obsession with pretty girls is going to land you in a lot of trouble, yeah?"

"So you agree that she's pretty!" Shad cut in.

"I agree that you're _obsessed _with her-"

"Oh!" the girl's voice sounded from across the bar, and Link and Shad's heads snapped up in her direction. She'd made eye contact with them, and now they scrambled to their feet, standing ramrod-straight and adjusting their clothes. Then, at exactly the same time, they found the nearest available walls, leaned on them, and tilted their chins up several degrees.

"Hey," they said in unison, jumped, and then glared at one another.

The pretty girl burst out into a fit of giggles. "You must be Link and Shad," she said, her voice practically a song all on its own. The two boys nodded greedily.

"Link, Hero of Twilight," Link said, pacing forward. Shad shoved him out of the way.

"Shad, award-winning scholar," the other greeted, only to be elbowed out of the way by Link, who took the lead once more.

"Savior of the universe- wielder of the Master Sword-"

"Don't let him fool you, he herds goats for a living," Ashei piped up from behind the two lovestruck idiots.

By now, the pretty girl had erupted into a fit of giggles. "I'm Malon," she finally said, extending a small hand. Link and Shad jumped to grab it, but it was Link who reached her first, giving her hand a warm shake and nearly forgetting to let go.

When Link realized how awkward the moment had become, his hand whipped behind his head to scratch his neck, and Shad took the opportunity to take Malon's hand in turn. He kissed the back of it gingerly, muttered something in a language that only a learned scholar like himself would understand, and then, having let go of Malon's hand, turned to Link and raised an eyebrow.

_Beat that_, his expression seemed to say.

"So, uh," Link stuttered, shouldering Shad out of the way for the umpteenth time, "are you from the countryside?"

Malon nodded, stifling a giggle. "I work on a ranch."

"_No waaaay_, me too!" Link cried, his over-exuberance causing Ashei to groan audibly from where she was sitting.

"I train the horses."

"I can ride a horse- her name's Epona- she's real sweet, we ought to go riding sometime so you can meet her-"

"-I suppose the calves are being weened from their mothers about now, hm?" Shad interrupted, and Malon's eyes lit up.

"Yes- but how did you know?"

"Oh, I do a bit of reading here and there," Shad said, "nothing _wild_, but I've studied farming a bit, and I understand that early summer is a very active time for a rancher-"

"I'm impressed," Malon finally remarked, her eyes jumping back and forth between the two boys.

"Thank you," both answered pridefully, and then turned to glare at one another.

Just as they were each contemplating their next move, the door to the bar swung suddenly open and a tall, lanky figure entered the room. Link recognized him immediately- _Fado? _The goatherd back in Ordon? What was he- _oh, no_…

_She works on __**that **__ranch?!_

"Mal?" the young man called, and Link stared in disbelief as Malon scampered over towards Fado, throwing her arms around him and pecking him on the lips.

"_There _you are," she said with a short laugh. "I was beginning to worry."

Link glanced at Shad, whose jaw had fallen open. He had to physically close it with his palm, and even then the look of utter shock didn't vanish from his countenance.

"Thanks so much for everything, Telma," Fado was saying.

"Hope you'll put that goat milk to good use…" Malon added. And just like that, she glanced over her shoulder briefly, waved farewell to Link and Shad, and disappeared through the door with Fado. Her _boyfriend_ Fado. Link stared at the spot where she'd vanished for what felt like an eternity.

His reverie was cut short when Ashei descended into a fit of laughter. He whirled about on his heel to glare at her, but she was hardly paying attention. Her face had gone red with mirth, and she was pointing between Link and Shad in glee. "_'Savior of the universe_'," she mocked. She was gasping for air. _"AWARD-WINNING SCHOLAR!" _she howled, getting dizzily to her feet and holding back tears. "You two looked like _such idiots!" _she exclaimed, and stumbled away clutching her sore gut. Her laughter echoed until she'd disappeared upstairs.

Link and Shad peered at each other until silence had fallen. Finally, Link cracked a grin.

"Well. It could've been worse," he proposed. "At least I didn't say anything about _weening calves._"

Shad moved to protest- stopped- fell still.

"You're right, of course," he grumbled. After a long moment, he sighed. "Drinks are on me."

"You bet they are," Link answered, and with that, they set off to drown that morning's sorrows.

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**So, for fans of MRMR: A few months ago, TriforceLink205 (whose real name shall not be disclosed) set up a bit of a production team to make an online media presentation (sort of like an animated adaption minus the animation, so... a webcomic with voices?) version of MRMR. Assuming that the plan is still on, he's asked me to rally any of you who are interested to sign up for/audition for the voices of characters such as Ashei, Shad, Ilia, Crevan... anyone, really. **

**For more info, PM TriforceLink205 and maybe you can set up an exchange through email or something. He'll get the casting side to you and all you really need is a microphone. (I'm hands-off with it, which is why I am referring you to TL205.)**

**Merry Christmas TL205, you're a great friend, an awesome musician, and I consider myself lucky to have your support.**


End file.
